[OPEN]

[dracobin]

Characters: Temeraire and YOU!
Date: April 26
Location: Outside the Palace of Landed Sky
Situation: Following the attacks, Temeraire calls the nascent Keeliai Aerial Corps to investigate the palace.
Warnings/Rating: Probably injuries as a result of encountering the barrier? Other exciting developments? WE SHALL SEE.

It was at once obvious something was wrong with the palace; in hindsight, he ought to have looked to it sooner. It was only that there were so many other things to occupy one's attention, when one's friends had been injured, and one's apartment had been converted into a makeshift shelter for one's kedan neighbors, and one's console flickered alarmingly, at the edge of one's vision, so one was never entirely certain if one was seeing it or not--

But now he kept the monstrous, spiky form of the palace firmly in view as he flew, with as many of his crew as he could carry clipped onto his harness. If there was anything that could be done, he resolved to find it; it was the least he could do, after his lapse in attention.

Comments

[dracobin]

Used as Temeraire was to the concept of magic existing in this world, the instances in which he actually witnessed it were still few and far between, and he watched, entranced, as Zelgadis cast the spell.

Even with his eyesight as keen as it was, seeing through the cloud proved difficult. But if he concentrated...

"There," he said suddenly, and beat his wings once, gliding closer to the palace. "It is bouncing off something--do you see it?"

[gathersnomoss]

"Sort of... yes. That's useful to know. If I could switch the spell up a bit, having something like this spell would be useful to avoid the barrier. Without the vision. Can you still fly without running into the barrier?"

[dracobin]

"Only upward, I think," said Temeraire, keeping a dubious eye on the apparent cylinder of clear sky that denoted the presence of the barrier as he pulled carefully into a hover. "I thought perhaps it might be a dome of some sort, but it seems to go straight up: evidently flying over the palace is out of the question, as well."

[gathersnomoss]

"It makes sense from a strategic standpoint," Zelgadis said. "If we could get over, there's all sorts of things we could do, so they block it." He looked up.

"I wonder how far it extends."

[dracobin]

"Likely Asti's barrier will end before this one does." Temeraire looked up, a displeased expression crossing his face. "But I see no reason why we should not try."

With that, he darted upward, wings beating mightily as he drew in a deep breath. It had been some time before he had dared to test the limits of Asti's influence; he did, after all, trust the giant turtle. But these were desperate times, and they called for desperate measures.

[gathersnomoss]

Zelgadis followed as quick as he was able, thinking that maybe he should have grabbed Temeraire's harness instead of trying to match his speed. Under normal circumstances, the spell would keep enough air around him to keep breathing comfortable, but, here the problem was Asti.

He idly wondered if the turtle would be able to sense them. Or if he could ask the little turtles to pass on a message, even if they found it difficult to speak to Asti. He filed that away for later.

[dracobin]

Even with his air-sacs inflated as wide as they could go, Temeraire found the going surprisingly difficult. He bared his teeth as he beat his wings faster, straining against the pull of gravity, but the air thinned faster than he would have liked, and very soon it felt as if he was barely moving at all.

He finally came to a stop about a minute later: even hovering was harder up here. Temeraire peered up, eyes narrowing, and tried very hard not to show how heavily he was breathing. He did not like to concede defeat, at all, but it did not seem the barrier showed signs of ending anytime soon.

[gathersnomoss]

Zelgadis caught up, breathing hard. "After this, I'm going to have to land soon. This is higher than I normally go with flight spells. Dark Mist."

Again, mist filled the area, probing the barrier. It was a bit more diffuse, more due to the lack of water vapor and distance from the sea.

[dracobin]

At the very least, the fact that the mist was more spread out made it easier to see: still the same barrier, rising ever higher, and it appeared to hold up to Zelgadis's probing.

Temeraire would have tried pushing himself further, and likely injured himself in the process, had it not been for Zelgadis. He turned his attention to the mage, eyes wide.

"You may clip on to my back for the descent, if you like," he offered. "As much as I dislike the thought, I do not think there is anything more to be gained from flying higher."

[gathersnomoss]

"Thanks," Zelgadis said, floating over to Temeraire and grabbing on to the harness, considering how best to secure himself to the dragon.

[dracobin]

The aviators' harnesses normally worn by his human passengers were currently in use, but there were plenty of loops and buckles on Temeraire's harness to provide sufficient handholds. Temeraire, for his part, focused on making a controlled descent, keeping his wings spread wide as he slowly deflated his internal air-sacs.

They moved in a careful half-circle away from the barrier, dropping quickly but steadily. The breezes around the palace were strange--a side effect of the barrier being in the way, perhaps?--and Temeraire found himself having to compensate for their erratic patterns more than once. Still, descending was easier than ascending, and he landed in short order.

"Well," he said, once he had got his breath back, "at least we know the barrier's perimeter for certain."

[gathersnomoss]

"Right, " Zelgadis said, recovering his own breath. "And no reason to think there's any way in if it extends that far up."